Administrator vs executor vs probate

Sorry this turned out so long, but someone please help!

My father passed away in February and since then it has been a family circus. He was divorced with three sons as heirs. The oldest lives in Louisiana, middle child in California, youngest also in Texas but 7 hours away.

No will was found. The estate is approx worth $30,000.

1. Paternal grandmother volunteered to be administrator, she lived in same city.
2. Due to stress, she relinquished administratorship to oldest son in Louisiana.
3. All heirs signed notarized affadavits of consent for him to administrate.
4. Small-estate affadavit also notarized and signed by family members.

5. A valid Will from 1984 is discovered, leaving all assets to the estate, and the whole of the estate to the heirs. Two unknown men named as executor and backup executor. One lives in Virginia, the other in Louisiana.

6. Paternal grandmother is convinced that we should now contact an executor and have the estate entered into probate, even though everyone is in agreement about how the estate should be dispersed.

It makes no sense to have an unknown man in Virginia (and/or Louisiana) act as executor, especially since travel would be required and the estate is small. We wish to continue as planned with eldest heir in Louisiana acting as administrator.

How should we proceed so that we the heirs can administrate and disperse the estate without it getting thrown into probate?

You Need To Call Your Brother

Unknown to whom? To you? Just because you may not know him is no excuse to deny the wishes of the decedent!!

Administrator will be in big trouble legally if it is later discovered that she withheld the will. Use USSEARCH.COM or a private investigator to locate the addresses of the named executor and the backup executor to inform them about this matter and tell them the value of the estate and let them decide whether or not they want to be involved. Once you tell them the value of the estate and what the executor fee, they will probably not be interested since it might require them taking too much time off from their job and the fee is probably too low for them to be interested. Paternal grandmother is correct--if it turns out they are not interested, she can ask them sign a form declining the executor position or send a letter stating such.

What do you mean by saying "dispersing the estate without going through probate"? Probate is needed to make sure everything is handled officially and proper distributions made.

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